Hextar Industries Bhd has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s master franchisee for Spain’s llaollao frozen yogurt brand, for RM177.5 million in cash. Announced on 12 February 2026, the deal values Woodpeckers at RM348 million for 100% of the business and marks Hextar’s largest and boldest step yet in its transformation from a legacy fertiliser and quarry-equipment group into a food and beverage retail player. The agreement’s profit-guarantee terms were later revised, pushing key targets back by a year after both sides pointed to Middle East tensions weighing on Malaysian consumer sentiment.
Key Takeaways
- Hextar Industries Bhd agreed on 12 February 2026 to acquire a 51% stake in Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s master franchisee for Spain’s llaollao frozen yogurt brand, for RM177.5 million cash, implying a RM348 million valuation for the full company.
- Five individual sellers — Tan Kai Young, Chua Ray-Men, Tan Sze Liang, Lee Ken Vern and Ricky Tjandra — retained a 49% stake and agreed to a three-year profit guarantee averaging RM29 million a year.
- Woodpeckers posted FY2024 net profit of RM30.3 million on revenue of RM150.64 million, putting Hextar’s implied valuation at roughly 11.5 times the target’s most recent full-year earnings.
- Woodpeckers operates 131 llaollao outlets across Malaysia under a master franchise from the brand’s Spanish owner, making it one of the country’s largest frozen dessert retail networks.
- Deal terms were revised after the announcement, pushing the profit-guarantee targets back by one year — a change both parties attributed to Middle East tensions affecting Malaysian consumer sentiment.
Deal Details
| Buyer / Investor | Hextar Industries Bhd, Malaysia — Bursa Malaysia-listed industrial group pivoting into F&B retail |
| Target | Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd, Malaysia — master franchisee of Spain’s llaollao frozen yogurt brand, 131 outlets |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Industry | Food |
| Business Type | Brand Owner / Franchise Operator (Retailer) |
| Transaction Type | Acquisition |
| Stake | 51% |
| Deal Value | RM177.5 million cash (approximately US$40 million); implies RM348 million for 100% |
| Announcement Date | 12 February 2026 |
| Completion Date | Pending — profit-guarantee terms revised after announcement |
| Status | Announced (terms revised) |
About the Buyer
Hextar Industries Bhd is a Bursa Malaysia-listed company that built its business over more than a decade as a manufacturer and distributor of fertilisers, alongside turnkey equipment and rental solutions for Malaysia’s quarry and mining industry. It sits within the broader Hextar group of companies, a stable of separately listed vehicles that also includes Hextar Global Berhad (agrochemicals and fertiliser distribution), Hextar Technologies Solutions Berhad and Hextar Capital Berhad, giving the wider group a public-markets footprint across industrial and financial services as well as newer consumer-facing ventures such as Hextar Retail Berhad. The Woodpeckers transaction is Hextar Industries’ clearest signal yet that it intends to build a genuine food and beverage retail arm rather than treat the deal as a one-off diversification away from its agribusiness roots. More information on the buyer is available on Hextar Industries’ official website.
About the Target
Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd is the master franchisee that brought llaollao, the Spanish self-serve frozen yogurt brand, to Malaysia, and has grown the concept to 131 outlets nationwide — one of the largest frozen dessert retail networks in the country. Beyond llaollao, Woodpeckers’ own portfolio spans other franchised and in-house F&B concepts, including the Thai milk tea brand ChaTraMué and coconut drink label Shae.co, positioning it as a multi-brand F&B retail operator rather than a single-concept franchisee. Financially, the business generated RM150.64 million in revenue and RM30.3 million in net profit in FY2024, figures that made it an already-profitable, cash-generative target rather than a turnaround story. Under the deal, five individual shareholders — Tan Kai Young, Chua Ray-Men, Tan Sze Liang, Lee Ken Vern and Ricky Tjandra — sold the 51% stake while retaining the remaining 49%, and agreed to a profit guarantee averaging RM29 million a year over three years. More information on the target’s flagship brand is available on Woodpeckers Group’s official website.
Why This Deal Matters
The RM348 million implied valuation for 100% of Woodpeckers equates to roughly 11.5 times its FY2024 net profit — a full-service, profitable-franchise-operator multiple rather than a distressed or bargain price, underscoring how far Hextar was willing to reach to secure an established F&B platform in one move. The three-year, RM29 million-a-year profit guarantee is the more revealing part of the structure: it shifts near-term execution risk back onto the five selling shareholders rather than leaving Hextar as the sole party exposed if performance slips, a protection increasingly demanded by Malaysian acquirers of franchise-dependent businesses. That protection matters because the underlying brand rights for llaollao sit with an overseas franchisor in Spain, not with Woodpeckers itself — Hextar is essentially buying a distribution and operations business built on a licence, not full ownership of the brand its cashflows depend on. The subsequent revision of the profit-guarantee timeline, with targets pushed back a year and both sides pointing to Middle East tensions denting consumer sentiment, confirms that guarantee structures of this kind tend to be renegotiated rather than unwound entirely when conditions turn — a distinction that matters for how the market should price similar earn-out-heavy deals going forward.
Industry Impact
Hextar’s move continues a broader pattern of Bursa-listed industrial and agribusiness groups looking to consumer F&B retail for growth their legacy operations can no longer supply — the same logic that sat behind Life Water Berhad’s acquisition of Hung Tai Group, where a bottled-water company bought its way into adjacent F&B categories rather than building them organically. It also lands amid an active stretch for Malaysian F&B and retail M&A more broadly: CP Axtra’s Lotus’s Malaysia has moved to acquire Village Grocer owner The Food Purveyor for RM1.66 billion, while ZUS Coffee raised RM250 million from KV Asia, KWAP and Kapal Api to fund its own regional beverage expansion, together pointing to conglomerate and institutional capital chasing scaled, cash-generative consumer brands across the country. For master franchisees specifically, the deal signals that proven, multi-outlet operators of overseas brands can now command double-digit earnings multiples from strategic acquirers — a dynamic that keeps valuations elevated for other Malaysian franchise groups sitting on established, profitable networks, even when ultimate brand ownership remains offshore.
My Take
My take on this deal is that Hextar paid a full price for certainty, not a bargain for growth. An 11.5x earnings multiple for a business whose core brand rights sit with a Spanish franchisor is not cheap, and it tells me Hextar valued Woodpeckers’ 131-outlet operating network — its site selection, staff and supply-chain execution — at least as highly as the llaollao name itself. That is probably the right call for a group with no track record in F&B retail, since buying proven execution is faster and lower-risk than trying to build a frozen dessert chain from scratch. But it also means Hextar now carries franchise-renewal risk on a licence it does not control, and I’ll be watching whether that relationship with llaollao’s Spanish owner stays on good terms as Woodpeckers scales further under new ownership.
The revised profit guarantee is the part of this story I find most instructive. Pushing the RM29 million-a-year targets back a year rather than cutting them — and doing so with an external excuse (Middle East tensions) rather than an internal one — tells me both sides wanted the deal to stay intact on its original economics rather than reopen price negotiations, which suggests Hextar still believes in Woodpeckers’ underlying earning power even as near-term consumer spending wobbles. What I’d watch next is whether Hextar treats this as a standalone bet or the first of several F&B bolt-ons: a Bursa-listed group that just spent RM177.5 million buying its way into frozen desserts is a natural acquirer for other Malaysian master-franchise operators looking for an exit, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hextar Industries or its sister companies back at the table again within the next two to three years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is acquiring Woodpeckers Group?
Hextar Industries Bhd, a Bursa Malaysia-listed company, agreed on 12 February 2026 to acquire a 51% stake in Woodpeckers Group Sdn Bhd, the master franchisee of Spain’s llaollao frozen yogurt brand in Malaysia.
How much is Hextar Industries paying for Woodpeckers Group?
Hextar is paying RM177.5 million in cash for a 51% stake, implying a RM348 million valuation for 100% of Woodpeckers — equivalent to approximately US$40 million for the stake being acquired.
What brand does Woodpeckers Group operate in Malaysia?
Woodpeckers Group is the master franchisee for llaollao, a Spanish self-serve frozen yogurt brand, operating 131 outlets across Malaysia; its wider portfolio also includes the ChaTraMué Thai milk tea and Shae.co coconut drink concepts.
Why were the Hextar-Woodpeckers deal terms revised?
The deal’s profit-guarantee targets were pushed back by one year after both parties cited Middle East tensions affecting Malaysian consumer sentiment, rather than any change to the RM177.5 million purchase price.
What profit guarantee applies to the Woodpeckers deal?
The five selling shareholders — Tan Kai Young, Chua Ray-Men, Tan Sze Liang, Lee Ken Vern and Ricky Tjandra — agreed to a profit guarantee averaging RM29 million a year over three years, benchmarked against Woodpeckers’ FY2024 net profit of RM30.3 million.
Is the Hextar Industries acquisition of Woodpeckers completed?
As of the deal’s announcement and subsequent term revision, completion remained pending. Woodpeckers posted RM150.64 million in FY2024 revenue, and the transaction has not been reported as closed.
Related
- M&A & Investment Insights — the full landing page for Malaysia and ASEAN consumer deals
- More deals & transactions
- Life Water Berhad to Acquire 90% of Hung Tai Group for RM46.8 Million
- ZUS Coffee Raises RM250 Million from KV Asia, KWAP and Kapal Api to Fuel ASEAN Expansion
- CP Axtra’s Lotus’s Malaysia to Acquire Village Grocer Owner The Food Purveyor for RM1.66 Billion
Sources
- The Edge Malaysia — Hextar Industries buys 51% stake in llaollao operator Woodpeckers Group
- The Star — Hextar Industries buys majority stake in llaollao operator for RM177.5mil
- The Edge Malaysia — Hextar-Woodpeckers deal terms revised
- Hextar Industries Bhd — official website
- Woodpeckers Group / llaollao Malaysia — official website
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and editorial purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities and does not constitute investment advice.
